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April 3, 2008
Kelo and Us
The NY Sun editorial board weighs in on the property owners' petition to the US Supreme Court:
One of the most important Constitutional questions in the history of our Republic might be decided over a few acres of rat infested railroad yards in Brooklyn and a handful of doughty home owners who like living nearby.
NoLandGrab: Did they really say "rat infested?"
The question is whether the Constitution permits a developer to seize the property of the few residents continuing to live in the footprint of the proposed Atlantic Yards development near downtown Brooklyn.
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The stakes don't get higher, for the individuals, for the city, and for the country.
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There's little doubt that the Atlantic Yards project, which is being developed by Bruce Ratner, would bring a host of benefits to Brooklyn, such as a basketball team, housing, office space, some daring architecture, and commerce. The main legal impediment now are just a few holdouts in the neighborhood. We would like them to move, as would many New Yorkers, and make room for the project. The questions is: can the government force them out?
NoLandGrab: The Sun "would like them to move?" Why didn't they say so before? Maybe since they put it so nicely, the property owners and renters will reconsider.
One of the big questions in the case is what the City of New York is going to do — how hard it is going to fight and on what grounds. Mayor Bloomberg has, at least in the public debate, taken an aggressive stance generally in favor of the use of the condemnation process and eminent domain, arguing that our great city couldn't have been built without it. But there may be a sense that the market has shifted under the Brooklyn development and this isn't a case on which anyone, save for the homeowners, wants to go to the mat. It's hard to imagine there's not a market clearing price for all this, but sometimes there is not. In which case no one will envy the Nine this decision.
NoLandGrab: So far, the State and Bruce Ratner have shown that they are totally willing "to go to the mat" for this project, which indicates how much juice the Bruce has in Albany, and heightens the importance of the question to be considered by the US Supreme Court.
Posted by lumi at April 3, 2008 5:37 AM